The Reader Problem Tag

I was tagged by the lovely Emily aka TheLittleBookAffair, so make sure you all check out her answers by clicking here. Cue the bursting of my problem bubble!

1. You have 20,000 books on your TBR. How in the world do you decide what to read next?

I actually create a new list of books I feel like reading from the TBR list, and narrow it down by a few factors like ratings, prices, pages, and whether I really do want to read it at that moment in time. Sometimes it takes quite a while, but other times I’ll be in a strange genre mood and it’ll only take minutes.

2. You’re halfway through a book and you’re just not loving it. Do you quit or are you committed?

“Quitters never win, and winners never quit!”…is what I would say had I ever put a book down. Oops. OK so my answer for this is dependent on a few things:

1) I never put a book down if I’m over 50% of the way through. At that point, I feel like I’m on the home stretch, anyway.

2) If I didn’t pay for the book, I never really feel an obligation to finish it. This works for ARCs, books sent for review, and books that have entered the public domain. If it’s an ARC, or book sent purposely for review, and I’m not loving it, I tell the author/publishing company straight and truthfully.

3) I never put a book down if it’s part of a series.

4) I have to really be disliking a book to put it down. If it’s simply a little boring, I rely on the fact that it’ll probably heat up later.

3. The end of the year is coming and you’re so close but so far away on your Goodreads challenge. Do you try to catch up and how?

I absolutely hate missing goals – it’s the worst feeling ever! That doesn’t mean to say that I’ll force books down my throat at warp speed, though – I will simply up the amount of time I usually read for. An hour long session will become 2 hours, 2 hours will become 3, and so on. Frankly, though, I’ve never been in this situation – pace yourself over the length of the year, and your goal will be reached!

4. The covers of a series you love do. not. match. How do you cope?

Because I’m a Kindle user, this doesn’t really bother me much. Books are to be read, not displayed, and you shouldn’t fork out extra money if you don’t have it just to make your books match. You could be buying new books with that money! Actually, I have a few physical copies of books, like the Twilight Saga, for example, and all my covers are mismatched. Frankly, it gives my little bookshelf more character!

5. Everyone and their mother loves a book you really don’t like. Who do you bond with over shared feelings?

People who penned the negative reviews on Goodreads! Other than that, I’ll simply bury my feelings until someone with the same opinion comes along!

6. You’re reading a book and you’re about to start crying in public. How do you deal?

“Who’s crying? Ohhh, I see – you thought I was crying? No, no. It’s just hay fever. No, Gus didn’t die. *sniffles* I’m fine. Just hay fever. What do you mean the pollen count is low today?”

7. A sequel of a book you loved just came out, but you’ve forgotten a lot from the prior novel. Will you reread the book? Skip the sequel? Try to find a synopsis on Goodreads?

Read the synopsis, and a few reviews with spoilers until I think I have the general feel of it. Once I get into the sequel it all comes flooding back to me, anyway!

8. You do not want anyone, ANYONE, borrowing your books. How do you politely tell people no when they ask?

“I have a kindle, sorry.” SO. EASY. Kindles rule.

9. You’ve picked up and put down 5 books in the last month. How do you get over your reading slump?

I never really get into this situation. Frankly, I’ve never been in a reading slump. I usually persist with books for as long as I can, and if it’s still bad about 20% of the way through, I put it down. To defeat a reading slump, though, I would probably reread an old favourite, or pick up an easy read. Nothing good can come from forcing yourself to read a challenging book.

10. There are so many new books coming out that you’re dying to read. How many do you actually buy?

Zero. Books are so expensive when they’re first released! I usually wait a few months, which allows both the price to fall, and people to start reviewing, giving me an impression as to whether the book is as good as I was expecting, or allowing me to lower or up my expectations. Unless the book is the next in a favourite series, I’ll wait.

11. After you’ve bought the new books you can’t wait to get to, how long do they sit on your shelf before you get to them?

I usually only buy books when it’s what I want to read next, or it’s on special offer, so normally not long. However, sometimes I’ll find a few books that are up for sale for really cheap, and so I’ll have to leave a few of those unread for a while. I also have a lot of classics that I downloaded simply because they were free – they’ve been on my shelf for months!

Is it annoying anyone else that there are 11 questions, not 10 or 12? Just me…

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16 years old, I am, and always have been, obsessed with 2 things in life: books, and writing. Thus, I decided to combine those loves, and blog about books @ libroliv.com
I hope you enjoy reading what I have to say!